Necromancer - Condi Minion Master

The community gave this build a rating, making it second-tier: Good

Focused on: Condition damage

Designed for: PvP Conquest

Difficulty:

Easy

This build was last updated on June 11, 2024 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 patch.

Overview

A condition damage take on the PvP Minion Master archetype, this build has good enough sustain for smaller skirmishes and the damage to be viable in teamfights.

Available for F2P players as well and is generally seen as beginner-friendly.

Skill Bar

Scepter/Dagger

Staff

Utility

Skill Variants

Utility

For the optional slot:

• Well of Darkness - by far the most popular choice, acts as the primary defensive skill in the build. Doesn't break stun so it has to be used proactively, but it's great at shutting down melee while also putting pressure on them.

• Summon Flesh Wurm - stun break, mobility, minion synergy.

• Summon Bone Fiend - if you want to go for the meme option and just sit back while your minion army does everything. Makes the build more passive, but also less forgiving. Very rarely seen at higher ratings.

Weapons

• Pistol over Scepter - Pistol is a faster weapon, which is quite handy in a build infamous for its long cast times. It works better under pressure and requires less setup. The only real weakness of Pistol is its reliance on projectiles, this could make it harder for you to pressure certain specs like Elementalists with off-hand Focus. Pistol is usually worth it, but requires the Secrets of the Obscure and End of Dragons expansions so it's not an option for F2P players.

Elite

• Summon Flesh Golem - more minion synergy, relatively low CD for an elite and some extra CC. You lose out on burst damage by dropping Lich Form however.

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Specializations

Variants

• Shrouded Removal makes your minions a bit more squishy but improves your condition cleansing.

Equipment

Scepter

Dagger

Sigil

Sigil

Staff

Sigil

Sigil

Rune

Amulet

Relic

Equipment Variants

Sigils

Scepter/Dagger

• Sigil of Doom

• Sigil of Purging

Relics

• Relic of the Demon Queen - stronger healing reduction on Poison you apply, makes it a bit easier to kill tanky builds. Rune of Lynx should be considered with this relic in order to compensate for the loss of Wayfinder's mobility boost, but by doing so you're going to lose some damage as well as defense against conditions.

Usage

General

• MM Necro is viable both in teamfights and smaller skirmishes on side nodes.

• Use Scepter and Death Shroud to pressure enemies.

• Entering shroud is your primary method of surviving enemy focus.
  • Shroud is instant and you can enter/exit even while stunned, granting you a second health bar.
  • It procs Enfeebling Blood which is a great way to apply AoE Weakness to melee enemies even while you're stunned, mitigating their damage.
  • Plague Sending provides cleansing, and it can proc when Enfeebling Blood hits a target.

• Both weapon sets and even shroud has access to condition transfers, this is where most of your active cleansing comes from.
  • Deathly Swarm on Scepter/Dagger.
  • Putrid Mark on Staff.
  • Plague Sending when you enter shroud and Unholy Martyr when you exit it.

• Necromantic Corruption provides steady passive cleansing as long as your minions live. If your minions are overwhelmed by conditions, Unholy Martyr could bail them out.

• Lich Form is where your burst damage comes from. With Carrion Amulet this skill still deals good Power damage on skill #1, and the elite even has some minion synergy. Having Fury from Furious Demise is a plus.

• Let minions do their thing. Don't use the active of Summon Bone Minions and Summon Blood Fiend as it kills the minions. Exceptions include sacrificing them for some value when they're about to die from damage, or squeezing out some burst damage from the Bone Fiend explosion combined with Death Nova.

Pre-Game Life Force Stacking

• While waiting for the game to start, summon all of your minions. When the final 10 second countdown begins your minions will be killed as your skills are reset - their deaths generate Life Force for you.

• Just before the 10 second countdown starts, enter Lich Form. When you're forced out of the form you'll get the LF for exiting the form.

• Resummon all your minions. Explode Summon Bone Minions and consume Summon Blood Fiend for even more Life Force IF you can resummon them by the time you get to a capture point. If these were the first minions you've summoned then the skills should recharge by the time you get to the first fight on most maps.

Related Builds

• Necromancer - Core MM Roamer - WvW version of the build.